20th Century Fox has released the first trailer for director Matt Reeves’ (Let Me In) sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. The story takes place 15 years after the first film and finds Caesar (Andy Serkis) attempting to assert his dominance over the apes while a small human colony struggles to survive in San Francisco. The trailer doesn’t really go into all of that, but instead establishes a much darker tone than Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and rightly so. This is a post-apocalypse, and the teaser gives a good sense of what Reeves is going for. If you’re looking for a lot of Caesar, you won’t find it because there’s still plenty of effects work left to do.

The film also stars Jason Clarke, Keri Russell, Gary Oldman, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Kirk Acevedo, Toby Kebbell, Enrique Murciano, and Judy Greer. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes opens in 3D on July 18, 2014.

Via 20th Century Fox.

Here’s the official synopsis for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes:

A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth’s dominant species.